Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) has one of the shallowest arcs in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a consequence of the longstanding distribution rights dispute between Universal and Marvel Studios that prevented the Green Goliath from headlining solo films. Despite those constraints, the Russo Brothers featured a decisive pivot in Avengers: Endgame, where Banner emerged from the five-year time jump having merged his two identities into Smart Hulk, the combination of both halves. That transformation proved divisive, with a vocal segment of the fanbase arguing it stripped the character of the internal conflict that made him compelling. Now, as Banner returns in Spider-Man: Brand New Day with a device actively suppressing his other half and merchandise leaks indicating a return of the Savage Hulk, Marvel appears to be walking back the Endgame status quo entirely.
Videos by ComicBook.com
A leaked audio description of the second Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer reveals an exchange between Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Bruce Banner in which Peter asks whether Banner has found a way to suppress mutating DNA and whether it is theoretically possible to eliminate the undesirable aspects of a mutation while preserving the beneficial ones. Banner’s response reframes the issue: “How would you decide what parts of nature are good or bad?” That line clarifies the Endgame twist, as it implies Banner merged his two halves because he had genuinely accepted that no part of his biology was inherently wrong, not even the Savage Hulk. That also echoes his own Endgame explanation, when he told his fellow Avengers he had spent years treating the Hulk like a disease before learning to see him as a cure.
The Leaked Spider-Man: Brand New Day Dialogue Raises New Questions
While Banner’s newly revealed philosophy neatly justifies the creation of Smart Hulk in Avengers: Endgame, it simultaneously complicates his current status quo in the MCU. That’s because, if Bruce understands his gamma mutation as a valid part of nature and an extension of himself, his reliance on a device to suppress the Savage Hulk doesn’t make sense. In fact, by actively locking the monster away, Bruce is essentially reverting to his pre-Endgame mindset, treating the Hulk as a dangerous anomaly that shouldn’t exist. Furthermore, the suppressor bracelets seen in the trailers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day indicate that the Smart Hulk solution was either temporary or fundamentally flawed from the beginning, forcing the scientist to employ new containment measures to maintain control over his own body.
Of course, the consequences of Banner suppressing the Hulk might explain the many rumors, supposed leaks, and even official merchandising featuring the return of the original Hulk and even the introduction of the Grey Hulk, a version of the monster that never appeared in a movie before. Hopefully, Spider-Man: Brand New Day will also help to clear the timeline, as Bruce is first seen in human form post-Endgame in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. However, in the events of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, he’s once again back to his usual smart Hulk self.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to release in theaters on July 31st.
Are you excited to see Bruce Banner’s internal conflict return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Courtesy of TOHO Animation -
Image Courtesy of MAPPA -
Courtesy of Crunchyroll -
Image Courtesy of Studio Pierrot -
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
